


Every time I do it makes me laugh

by AstriferousSprite



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Photography, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 18:33:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11087511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstriferousSprite/pseuds/AstriferousSprite
Summary: After Scarif, Bodhi takes to photography.





	Every time I do it makes me laugh

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bassianprompts, with prompt [photos](http://bassianprompts.tumblr.com/post/161368044154/this-weeks-prompt-is-photo-go-go-go-remember).  
> Slight regret for the Nickelback title.

Bodhi takes as many photos as he can.

Ever since joining the Rebellion, he’s been desperate to preserve every memory, since Force knows how many were destroyed back on Jedha. Sure, there’s a few holos and trinkets between him and his sister Fayza, but only a fraction of everything that was lost when that blast hit their city.

Thankfully, some of the more important photos have been snatched by Fayza before she left Jedha; the family picture from before the Empire, the two of them playing gravball with their neighbors and little sister, Bodhi in his Imperial cadet uniform. Most of the important events of their lives, neatly recorded and preserved.

But their little collection is lacking in the small moments. There's nothing left of them laughing while eating ice creams, or the way their mother would rest a hand on their father’s shoulder in the evenings, or how the sun would shine on their sleeping cat in the summers. Most of what remains is sterile and staged, not candid.

So when Bodhi finds an old camera in one of the storage rooms, he immediately gets to work on repairing it and using it.

And use it he does.

 

The first picture Bodhi takes is of himself.

It’s not a flattering one—his eyes look dead and his hair _really_ needs washing—but granted, it _is_ a self-portrait, a reminder that he’s alive (Cassian insists that he looks handsome, but Bodhi knows he’s only being nice). The next picture is of the sunset from Yavin IV; a rich golden sky, lit up by the bright sun and Yavin looming in the distance (actually, he takes at least three photos, desperate to get the right angle). The third is a blurry shot of Fayza’s headscarf (she’s camera shy, apparently).

The fourth, fifth, and sixth pictures are all different shots of Cassian in their shared quarters.

There’s a sunrise, and a group picture at breakfast (Chirrut looks perky, Baze looks dead, Jyn looks like she’s about to kill someone), and a shot of the hangar with all the X-wings at attention. And another one of Cassian. And another one.

Bodhi’s still in recovery by the time the Rebels are ready to destroy the Death Star, but he still follows the pilots to the hangar and asks for their pictures. There’s one of Luke Skywalker posing with a staged grin, and another of him laughing with Biggs’ arm around his shoulder. One of the Alliance’s photographers, a portly Abednedo man, notices him; Bodhi takes his picture too.

During the ceremony, there’s no photography aside from the Rebel journalists (and besides, he can’t hold a camera while accepting a medal), but Luke offers to take a group picture of the Rogue One team; Cassian has an arm around his waist in that one, and he’s wearing a rather sincere smile (it will be the first clue for both of them that maybe their relationship isn’t the most platonic). He catches one of Leia smiling serenely in her white gown and one of K-2SO’s legs (he’s tall).

When they have to evacuate base, he takes one last shot of Base One, knowing it will be years before he sees it again. But even after Yavin, his documentation never stops.

Why would it?

 

The next few photos on the roll are attempts at capturing the majesty of deep space with a cheap point-and-shoot; instead of the expanse of stars, all he gets is black void.

From there, he keeps going. When he’s assigned to Rogue Squadron, he takes a picture of his X-wing in the hangar, and then a self-portrait of himself in his flashy orange jumpsuit (and equally flashy helmet). Cassian generously offers to take a group photo of the squadron; the first is all business, while the second is … less so (Wedge has his helmet on backwards and Luke’s sticking out his tongue; it’s quite endearing).

He gets better at candid shots; there’s a shot of Fayza with her head tilted back in laughter (the next is a blurry shot of a hand), and another of Leia with her braids crossed under her nose like a long moustache. There’s Cassian huddled up in his parka on Hoth and Jyn taking a nap on top of a U-wing and Baze lovingly tending to his cannon; small moments that humanize the Rebels, remind them that they’re more than cannon fodder.

And sure, he knows they’re not as good as the official ones by the photographers stationed with them, but he keeps taking them all the same. Because he knows one day when the war is over, he’ll have some of the better memories recorded.

 

And unsurprisingly, his favorite one is of Cassian.

It’s nothing grand; Bodhi merely woke up one morning earlier than him and, in the rush of getting ready, hardly noticed how he looked while asleep. For a man who’s usually such a ball of nerves, he looked so peaceful with his head gently resting on his hand and his hair a tousled mess. Bodhi was struck by how lovely the scene was, so of course he instinctively reached for the camera.

Cassian complains about it (“ _ay_ , I look stoned”), but Bodhi thinks it really captures the essence of who Cassian is; not a stone-cold soldier, but a gentle man.

And, of course, when he submits “Sleeping Rebel” to the _Coruscanti Times_ after the war and is awarded a Zibaanal Award for Feature Photography, he gets Cassian to shut up. Only a while, though, because immediately he just _has_ to share the news to everyone that his husband is an award-winning photographer and isn’t he simply _wonderful?_ (Bodhi learns to put up with that, too.)

As for the others, he prints the best ones and frames them, hanging them around their little ranch as a reminder that while the war may have been hell, they were still people.

To this day, he still has “Rebel” framed on the nightstand.

It’s become Cassian’s favorite, too.


End file.
